Our food writer, Mark Doe of ‘Just Cooking’ in Firies, says people who overcook their food don’t know what their missing…
ONE thing that I have learnt over the years of teaching people to cook at our school is that the majority of home cooks cook their food to death.
Why is this? Well apart from lack of knowledge on understanding how long food takes to cook and the trend in a lot of Irish homes to eat everything well done, I also believe it is the fear of poisoning somebody!
My mother in law is a classic example of this, who, although she is a great cook, tends to cook lamb and beef to death. But this is how she was taught and comes from her past few generations.
Chefs hate well done beef, lamb, duck, game and fish. It is a no go area when training to become a chef. Everything must be cooked pink.
Fish is always over cooked, but in reality most fish can be eaten raw as the Japanese do with Sushi and Sashimi. Small fish fillets say from Mackerel, sea bass or sole take 2-3 minutes to cook in a hot fryingpan and the likes of salmon fillet portions take around 6-7 minutes.
You will notice a massive difference in the taste and texture of your fish if it isn’t overcooked. In fact, fresh tuna and salmon are fantastic slightly under cooked.
With prime cuts of red meat, I can understand why some people hate the sight of blood in their meat. But if you try and get over this mental block and think of the blood as juices rather than blood, I will guarantee that you will be hooked on meat that is cooked to medium rare or medium.
The difference is amazing; tender, moist and packed full of flavour. Something you do not get with overcooked red meats as in fillet steak.
Of course pork and poultry have to cooked well done due to the risk of salmonella poisoning, but once you reach a core temperature of 75c the meat is safe to consume with no pink juces. You don’t have to cook the life out the meat.
Pork steak and chicken fillets tend to dry out a lot if over cooked as there is very little fat in the meat.
So instead of giving your meat or fish the usual five more minutes, try it without the extra time, I am sure you will be surprised.
Happy cooking!
